Hearing the case on WhatsApp’s new privacy policy, the Supreme Court was told by Facebook, which owns the popular messaging platform, that those feeling aggrieved could stop using WhatsApp, says a Times of India report.
WhatsApp counsel Kapil Sibal assured the court that messages and voice calls over the platform were end-to-end encrypted which ensured complete privacy.
Sibal, however, said that the contract between a user and WhatsApp was completely in the private domain and that the policy could not be tested constitutionally by the Supreme Court.
On the other hand, Facebook consel K K Venugopal’s assertion before the SC bench comprising Justices Dipak Misra, A K Sikri, Amitava Roy, A M Khanwilkar and M M Shantanagoudar was more blunt.
“Those who find the new privacy policy irksome or violative of their fundamental rights, can quit. We've given full freedom to users to withdraw from Facebook and WhatsApp,” Venugopal was quoted by Times of India as saying.
To this, the SC bench replied that this would amount to forcing a citizen to make a negative choice.
Appearing for the petitioners Karmanya Singh Sareen and Shreya Sethi who had claimed that there is no protection of data on Facebook and WhatsApp, Harish Salve said that under the new policy, users were unwittingly made to give consent to both WhatsApp and Facebook and the latter could snoop on messages privately circulated between users of WhatsApp.
Earlier this month, the Supreme Court had referred the matter to a Constitution bench saying that it concerns the larger issue of privacy and right to personal liberty.
A bench of Chief Justice J S Khehar and Justice D Y Chandrachud had said when the matter deals with public at large, it becomes a constitutional issue.
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for one of the parties, had said they have succeeded in the Delhi High Court and it was purely a contractual issue which does not need hearing by a Constitution bench.
Earlier, the Centre had informed the apex court that it will soon formulate a regulatory regime for Over-The-Top (OTT) services like WhatsApp, Facebook, Skype, WeChat and Google Talk, similar to the one existing for all telecom operators.
